Casey Dellacqua on breakthroughs, beauty school and befriending Barty (The Sit-Down)

A revered name in modern Australian tennis, Casey Dellacqua is universally admired for her on-court achievements, commentary insights and humility through success. The West Australian-turned-Sydneysider played eight Grand Slam finals through her peak, claiming the French Open mixed doubles title in 2011. A famous partnership with Ash Barty delivered finals at all four Slams, but her name first went up in lights after a defeat of Amelie Mauresmo and a fourth-round run at AO 2008. Her singles career is oft underappreciated; Dellacqua progressed to at least the third round at every major. The former world No.26 stepped into Pod Lover Arena to tell Matt and Viv about the moment that flipped her career "on its head",  victories she claimed through periods of physical and emotional turmoil and her current life with the "best job in the world".

Listen to the full episode here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The roof was closed to Rod Labor arena. We better
get ready, it might be about to lift off. She's

(00:31):
never then passed the first round in five previous attempts,
but the Australian Open Causey de lacra.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Is in the round at sixteen.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Another win at the AO. After what you've done, you
were through to the second week the fourth rounds then
like yeah, interesting, it's a bit it's a bit sketchy maybe,
but yeah, watching that, like what do you remember? Just
because that was like taking it to another level. She's
a Grand Slam champion. That's Rod Labor, not John Caine.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yeah, and won the tournament previously, and I don't think
anyone expected me to win. I think everyone at that point,
even my coach, was like, well, whatever happens, happens. And
I was like deep inside, I was like, no, I
can win, Like I knew I could win that match.
And it was very it's not very often that you
always had that type of self belief or confidence that

(01:15):
you were like what, it didn't matter who was doubt
and you're like, no Ah, I'm going to go and
win this one. And that was definitely one of those matches.
But when I say it's a bit of a blur.
I think it's because it was definitely the first breakthrough
tournament for me at a bigger scale, and so I
was just so in the moment and so present doing
that that as my career went on, I probably will

(01:37):
remember more moments, you know, a bit older, taking it
all in, appreciating the good and the bad times. That
that was just a very thrown thrown out there, just
being in the present and whatever happens, and you don't
get that feeling very much in life. I probably compare
it a bit too, trying to think where you get
that adrenaline where you're just like so oblivious, like I

(01:58):
don't know, maybe giving childbirth or something like that, but
like just that moment where you just like in this
different world. But yeah, it was pretty special and it
definitely flipped my career on its head for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I guess twenty and nine and ten were both
kind of injury mard for you. It was shoulder and foot.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, a couple of surgeries, yeah, shoulder and foot yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
And so I guess, yeah that made coming back in
twenty eleven and winning the French Open mixed doubles. It
must have yeah, that must have felt really good.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah it did.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
And like, yeah, I had the shoulder surgery and luckily,
like I could still use my legs and stuff, so
I ran a lot. I did heaps of cross training
and that, and then with all of that, I got
some foot problems. So then I had some foot surgery
and I didn't want to come back until I knew
that I was like in tip top shape physically and

(02:51):
mentally and emotionally and all of that. When I was
out injured, I also did things that I've never done before.
I went to beauty school and I did my stick Yeah,
I did my stiff Gate three in beauty therapy. And
it was a bit of a running joke that with
you know, my other fellow Aussi tennis players that I'd

(03:12):
open a Delhi's day spa on tour. So I but
I did that. I made a new bunch of friends
through beauty school that were awesome to hang out with.
And yeah, I kind of just found myself a little
bit again as Casey away from the court and established
life in Sydney, and I went out, you know, I

(03:33):
went out and had a few parties and did things
that perhaps I had missed out on a little bit,
and then when I came back, I was ready to
go again. And little did I know I'd win my
first major at the French Open in the Mix in
twenty eleven as quickly as I did. But oh, I
was so reboarding and I think the whole like just

(03:53):
coming back playing with Scott Lipski, like who you know,
had been grinding away for a long time. We didn't
really know each other. We won so many close matches
and it was just like one of those tournaments that
I don't even know how we won it, but it
was just teamwork. It was communication, it was good energy
on the court, a few lucky points here and there,

(04:15):
but just putting yourself out there and then yeah, to
win it was like still obviously a highlight of my career.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
And then just a couple of years after that, your
partnership with Ashbardy began in twenty thirteen. You made three
Grand Slam finals that year. Tell us about what made
you such great friends and playing partners.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, I am so grateful for my friendship with Ash,
and I know it's mutual in a sense that what
we were able to provide each other onto U was
exactly what we both needed, and that was you know,
having trust in someone ontour, honesty, loyalty, and we stuck
together and we were just good. We are just good friends.

(04:55):
And I think that translated onto the court in the
way that we you know, played doubles as well. So
I think we bonded over having very similar you know,
values and morals and how we like to go about things.
And yeah, and then we you know, complimented each other
on the doubles court, lefty rioty combo. We both you know,
just liked talking tactics. I mean there was not really

(05:17):
when I met Ash when she was young, I was
like this girl, I mean, her tennis brain is extraordinary.
So yeah, I think it was something that I really cherish,
my friendship with Ash and the time that we got
to spend on and off the court, the challenges, the
you know, we lost three Grand Slam finals that year,
but we always looked at the positives like we're an

(05:38):
Aussie pair and we've just made three Grand Slam doubles
finals and she was so young. So yeah, it was
a pretty special year twenty thirteen. And to do that
with Ash by my side was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Did you kind of feel like Ash's big sister at times.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
I did. There's obviously like a bit of a gap
between us, so, but she's very mature and perhaps I'm
quite immature. I don't know, but I think we just
we had this real sisterhood. Yeah, and that is something
that is very hard to find often in tennis. I mean,
we have a very great, you know culture amongst us

(06:15):
Aussie women tennis players in general. So I think I
knew I had, you know, whether it be Stubbsy or
Alisha or Sam or Pratty, like we always had each other.
And then you know, I had Ash come along and
I was like, let's go mate, you know, we're gonna
be buddies too, And yeah, it was nice. It was
nice to have someone also just to chat about footy
or I don't know what you're gonna have for dinner,

(06:36):
or you know, maybe if I'm just having a bad day,
can you come over and let's you know, just have
a laugh. So that stuff was awesome. But yeah, I
didn't It didn't. It wasn't ever like organized either. It
was just like we're friends. And however I felt I
was helping Ash was purely just from a very natural
and organic way of when you meet someone and you connect.

(06:57):
And she did a lot for me too. She helped
me through some of my tough times on tour, and
I got youthfulness and I got a lot of perspective
from Ash as well in my own personal and career
as well. So I think it was a match made
in heaven in that sense.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
If you'd like to hear the full episode of our
interview with Casey, search for the sit down or tap
the link in the episode Nights